We ask for savvy seed-starting kits and you did not disappoint us! Thank you so much to all of you for sharing your clever ideas for homemade seed-sprouting tools. You've proven that gardeners can take everyday objects and turn them into something cost-effective and quite useful!
As much as we would have loved to award prizes to everyone who entered, we could only pick 5. Our Grand Prize winner is Starr Pease, of Calimesa, California! Congratulations, Starr, you'll be receiving a $50 Park Seed Gift Certificate.
And the 4 Runners Up are Denise DeVault, of Morgantown, WV; Harley Frederickson, of Sexsmith, AB; Dawn Pannozza, of Naugatuck, CT; and Sherry Post, of Fairview, PA. You will each receive a $25 Park Seed Gift Certificate. Congratulations to all our winners and thank you again to everyone who participated! It's time to go get those seeds started!!
And here are the winners' savvy seed-starting ideas!
[Grand Prize] My friends are envious of my vegetable garden and always ask for small plants started from seeds. However, they are not always as quick to recognize which plant is which. Therefore, after I start the seedlings and they are ready to be planted into the garden, I recycle aluminum cans with the seedlings, and they are presented as a gift. A tomato paste can will contain roma tomatoes. Diced tomatoes will hold my patio tomatoes, etc. I use salsa cans to hold everything they need for a salsa container — onions, bells, jalapenos, and tomatoes. When they're ready to put the plants into the dirt, they know which plant is which! And a great gift for friends are containers filled with salsa vegetables, chinese stir fry, etc. — Starr Pease
I'm a little too eager to start my garden. I just want to grow something even if it's inside! I don't know how "savvy" it is, but this is my seed-starting idea. I had several empty cardboard egg cartons lying around and was getting ready to take them to recycle. My son wanted to cut them apart to make various things and I thought the little "cups" would make a decent substitution for a peat pot. I had no idea if it would work or not. I cut a small slit in the bottom of each and them set each cup inside a styrofoam egg carton. I put potting mix in each one and planted spinach seeds. I still had a problem with light and heat, until I spotted the aquarium tank. A couple weeks back the last fish died, and I hadn't yet cleaned out the tank. In less than an hour that thing was emptied and disinfected and ready for my seeds. I placed small empty boxes upside down in the tank and put my carton of seeds on the top so they would be closer to the light. I also had an old temperature/humidity gage from when we had hermit crabs, and I put that in the bottom. When the light is on, the temperature stays at 68 degrees and the humidity fluctuates between 50 and 70%. Well, it actually worked! The seeds sprouted! But now I have no idea what I'm going to do with them because it's January 31st, and it's way too early to plant them outside! At least I know it works and I can use the rest of the cartons and seeds later. — Denise DeVault
Wonderful idea Park Seed. Old Socks seek New Home. Old socks, old mismatched "cotton" socks. Fold sock back on itself to form seed pot. The sock pot helps to retain moisture and is easily planted in designated areas. If you like you can cut/slit the bottom one layer with scissors. The old "cotton" sock returns itself back into soil. Hail to the "Old Cotton Sock."— Harley Frederickson
I'm pretty resourceful when it comes to using recycled things to start my seeds. I collect my 14-lb kitty litter jugs and cut away the top 1/3 to use the bottoms as seed starters/planters for my herbs. I use the 28-lb kitty litter pails (and their lids to cover) to start/grow tomatoes and peppers. I've made a whole bunch of "paper pots" (instead of using peat pots) out of my old newspapers to start seeds in. I collect yogurt cups, cut down the 64 oz plastic juice bottles (Juicy Juice, Ocean Spray, etc.), reuse the plastic containers that store-bought mushrooms come in to start my seeds. I reuse Windex bottles as water spray bottles. I've found long wood boards to put over my radiators where I put all of my "pots" to keep them warm in south-facing windows. I reuse the plastic bags (bread, rolls, etc.) to cover my pots.— Dawn Pannozza
I make my own seed-warming trays from two "waffled" flats used to carry plants home from the nursery/garden center and a string of C7 Christmas lights. I clip the lights onto the inside of the tray and anchor excess wire with plastic cable ties or twisty ties. Then I turn the tray over (see left) and cover with a cookie sheet to catch any drainage water from the plants. The lights are for indoor or outdoor use, so they won't short out if they get wet. I can control the temperature by slightly unscrewing some of the bulbs to turn them off.— Sherry Post
Oh shoot! I wish I would have seen this sooner – I would have entered! I take empty cardboard toilet paper rolls and cut them in half so that I have two short tubes about the size of a single pot. Then I cut four slits about 1/2″ tall on around one end and fold the tabs up to make the bottom of the pot. I fill them with seed starting mix, plant my seeds and place under my growing light. Once the seeds have sprouted, I can plant the cardboard pots right into the ground!
I use the plastic clam-shell containers that salad and tomatoes are packed in to start seed or as individual green houses when I start cuttings. Depending on the plant, I either spread soil (only about an inch is needed) in the bottom of the clam-shell or I fill 1″ and 2″ pots with soil, put in the seed, snap on the lid and watch them sprout. I use this method all year around, only watering a little when the soil gets too dry. I use the flatter clam-shells that herbs are packed in to send cuttings to friends. I use air pillow wrap to wrap the plants so they don’t get jumbled around during their transport.
I use styrofoam, cut to fit the bottom (1/2″ thick) and sides (1/4″ thick), on the inside of containers to insulate the plant roots from getting to hot. The top of the styrofoam should end 3″-4″ below the rim. This works really well if you want to put containers on cement or similar material. Once you have the styrofoam in place, plant you plant. Generally, the plants need less water using this method; water drains well, and the plants don’t stand in puddles.
Sherry-
I never could think of a use for thoses empty waffle crates, and am happy now that I never threw them out; thanks for sharing your idea.
I live in Fairview Park Ohio, and before that in Erie-
Hope it warms up soon- take care
Wow! This is GREAT! Thank you so much for picking me as a runner-up. THANK YOU PARK SEEDS!
I enjoy receiving the Park Garden News e-mails so much that I forward them to my sisters in Washington and Alaska and my daughters in Washington and Southern California. I recently wanted to share more of my excitement of spring garding with my daughters, so I bought each of us a package of seed starter peat discs. Then I bought vegetable seed packets and split each into three packets for sharing and saved several empty milk cartons which I cut in half horizontally to hold the little peat pots. They are sturdy, can be written on, don’t leak and fit perfect on my window sill. Then I mailed gardening “care packages” to my girls so they can start their gardens along with me.
The simplest way to get starter pots of varying sizes is to use a folded sheet of newspaper. Roll it several times around a container, glass or metal, of the height and diameter you want your pots to be. Just be sure you can slip it off- no rolled edges like with a tin can. Hot glue the side in a few spots, leave an inch or more at the bottom to fold over for the base. Hot glue after you’ve folded it. Slip it off and there is your pot. I’ve made hundreds of varying sizes to start anything from petunias to tomatoes. ;I place them in boxes lined with plastic garbage bags, place under grown lights or on a sunny porch and water as needed. When ready to plant outdoors, simply break the bottom free and plant. The paper decomposes and your plant has a headstart because it does not have to be transplanted from started pot to a bigger pot before planting outside.
That’s my hobby now before plant starting time is here on April 1.
I truly appreciate you taking the time to share this . Look forward to more posts from you